Carbon Footprint - Weekly Blog (11/26-11/30)

Summary:

Choices that we make in our everyday lives affect the world and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. It is very simple to forget about the effect that we have on the environment. There are so many ways that we are polluting the environment. For example, the products that we use can have a lot of emissions from transportation. It is important to think about how products manufactured far away can have a big effect on the environment. A Carbon Footprint is a way to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions that are created by a person, place or thing. Most greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation and are carbon dioxide emissions that can harm the environment.

To reduce the transportation environmental impact, it is important to buy materials that are made and sold locally. This would ensure that the materials are not traveling a very far distance, which would mean it would be better for the environment, and there would be less carbon dioxide emissions. Buying a product locally would be more expensive than manufacturing it somewhere else. When items are made and sold in the USA, they are manufactured at a higher price, which means we would need to pay more for those materials.


SP2: Developing and Using Models

This week, we used a model to represent the carbon footprint for creating our products. We used a map to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions for the transportation of our product. We used models to help explain how the carbon emmissions can have a big impact on the environment, and why it is important to pay attention to the manufacture location when buying a product. By using models, it was much easier to see how far each material had to travel to get to us, and how the emissions have a big effect on the environment.


XCC: Patterns

A pattern that I observed in class is that items that may cost less may have a bigger carbon footprint. For example, items that are made in the USA are manufactured at a higher price, however, there are fewer carbon emissions. This pattern helps us understand how carbon emissions are created from transportation, and how they can have a big effect on the environment. By using patterns, it helps us learn more about carbon emissions and how they can pollute the environment.

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